I don't buy the small percentage argument. And I base it, admittedly not on solid data, but indirect evidence of the nature that iPads have always come out with wifi-only and 3G-enabled models at launch. Even with the mini, that is the story and if it is an indication of anything, to me it sounds like that company believes there may be enough of a market for people to use 3G/LTE on their tablets, or at least want the option.
I wonder if the answer is in the demographics of the people who use Android tablets vs. iPads. Are people with iPads more likely to be the sort to travel, and especially abroad? For anybody who travels abroad, especially to East and South Asia as I do, not having mobile connectivity on the tablet severely undermines their utility during travel. So maybe business executives and others are more likely to use iPads and as such need mobile connectivity and which is why Apple brings both types of tablets to the market every single time. It certainly sounds absurd to say this, but this is a hypothesis and data needs to support or refute it.
I have to say again that I find this whole behavior bizarre. It is not as if Samsung does not manufacture 3G/Mobile Data versions of most of their tablets. Their markets in South- and East Asia almost certainly mandate it for their tablets because some of these markets don't have 'free wifi' or easy-to-set-up-mobile-hotspot capacities for people on cellphones. For instance, the Galaxy Note 10.1. had a simultaneous wifi-only launch here and a wifi+3G launch in Hong Kong. Similarly in S. Korea and India, the Galaxy 7 and 7.7 tablets all came with mobile connectivity as *standard*. I scarcely understand the mechanics of the business, but would it really make no sense for Samsung to put in mobile connectivity into these tablets being released in the US? They've done it elsewhere in the world; with the Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 coming soon on AT&T they are doing it now so they understand what it takes to bring 3G to the US; and now I imagine that Google understand what it takes as well with the Nexus 7 3G version coming out. So what gives.